The Botswana Infrastructure Investment (BII) Summit and the Botswana Asset Owners and Managers (BwAOM) Forum will be held on February 20th and 21st respectively.
The two events will be held at Avani Hotel in Gaborone and facilitated by MNCapital, a leading international investment advisory and communication firm.
MNCapital Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Michael Ndinisa said the local investor community is lagging behind in registering. The forum and summit has garnered the interest of South Africa and international players.
“The summit convenes public and private sector stakeholders to examine traditional and alternative sources of financing for Botswana’s infrastructure need. In addition, the asset owner’s forum explores the role of pension funds and insurers have to play in Botswana’s infrastructure financing ecosystem,” explained Ndinisa, whose main contention is that; if any country in Africa can finance its infrastructure needs leveraging on its local currency and hard assets, Botswana can do it better!
Ndinisa’s major belief is that the role of infrastructure is crucial because it underpins development – lays the base, unlocks economic prospects and promotes growth. He said infrastructure has a telling role in encouraging fundamental economic growth and safeguarding of competitiveness, both in the domestic and international markets.
“National and Local Governments need to ensure infrastructure provision as a prerequisite, not only for economic development, but also for the delivery of basic services such as water, sanitation, road networks and housing,” he said. He, however, noted that financing of infrastructure is a major problem every government faces.
The summit is regarded as the first step towards developing an ecosystem of asset owners, fund managers and investment professionals with an appetite to invest in infrastructure. It is expected to facilitate industry-led efforts to address the lack of deep in-house experience which prevents trustees and investment committees from safely allowing their investment teams to invest in infrastructure.
It is also expected to, at the same time, to leverage off of the expertise of professionals and investors across Africa to develop infrastructure investment products specific to the needs of Botswana.
The leading fund managers executives from both locally and the region are some of the speakers and discussion leaders expected to grace the seminars.